Prolly The Best Car Ever —
1990 BMW 325i. All stock except a few unwanted exterior parts. interior is immaculate. no cracks on dash, no rips or worn spots on seats. absolutely love it. still has work to be put in to get it where i want it.
wish list: new suspension
new headers, catback, muffler...basically new exhaust
cold air intake filter
new ECU
front and rear struts
anti-roll bars
lightweight clutch and flywheel
4.10 lsd
about it for now

We Didn't Name It 'evl Bemr' For Nothing —
It's actually now my boyfriend's car, but I drove it for about 6 months before I bought my mini. OH IT WAS FUNNNNNNNNNNNN!! Well now it's a stick shift and to hell if i'll drive it. If I break something then the sky will come crashing down.

Not 1990, 1981 Similar To Picture —
323i with loads of factory extras. straight line performance oh dear here's a bend!!!!! yeah I crashed mine, but, walked away with a scratch on my head, which I got climbing out of sunroof.

Used To Be Quicksilver On Wheels, Really And Truly. —
This car used to be amazing. It was born in San Diego, CA, and it was very happy there. I used to drive her on 5 North at 2 am speeding along at 100 MPH, and it felt like I was going about 15 MPH. Her RPMs would barely crack 3,000. This was 17 years ago, and she's no spring chicken now. But she only has about 110,000 mi and she's been doing fine.

Pros:
Amazing handling, tight turn radius, peppy acceleration, very sturdy body (I was in her first accident this summer . . . got rear-ended by a Canadian GMC SUV on the HIGHWAY at 40 MPH, and she emerged relatively unscathed).

Cons:
This car's battery has died so many times I can't even count. I used to have nightmares about it.

The legendary BMW 3 series is widely regarded as one of the greatest cars ever conceived. As far as pure motoring goes, the second generation E30 was arguably best in the history of the series. The 325IS model, especially, with it's sports trim bumper covers, sport seats, improved handling and, of course, peppy, 2.5L inline six had been refined to nearly the point of perfection especially by the end of their run by 1989-90. The E36 that replaced it, while a fantastic machine in it's own right, was a bit heavier, suffered from build quality issues especially in the early years, and was clearly a break from some of the pure sporting values that BMW had created around their brand. The E30 of 1990 Had most of the positives of what it would become; ride comfort, safety, features, but also everything that was great about what it was built on; great build quality, refined engineering, classic looks, light weight, and very little in the way of negative traits. The biggest one of those negative traits is actually not peculiar to the E30, but to all BMWs. It is both what makes a BMW a BMW, and a BMW's Achille's heel. That is, the way BMW loves to build their rubber bushings irremovably into the metal. It makes for an amazing driving experience, but when the parts inevitably begin to wear, the party's over and the entire part must be replaced.
Like any older car, keeping it on the road is a labor of love, but the build quality of these late 80s & early 90s BMWs is second to none. If properly maintained, these cars will be on the road for a lifetime or maybe two. But sadly, fewer and fewer people appreciate these classics and they become more scarce every year, especially when the collector's eyes are more focused on the golden child of the family; the racetrack destroying M3. The peasant's model is often snapped up by tinkerers and modified within an millimeter of their lives and sorely abused. As a consequence, it is also getting harder to find an E30 that is unmolested.
Anyone who appreciates older cars could do much worse than find an E30 to put in their garage. Considering the reasonable prices these cars can be had for, their reasonable reliability and iconic looks, not to mention the E30s even feel more modern in many ways than the Accords and Jettas of the late 90's, the E30 is truly a poor man's collector car. And who knows, considering all the great things about these cars, they could turn out to be a great investment.

One Day I'll Buy Another One —
Perfomance - accelerated nicely, beautiful engine sound. gas pedal was not very sensitive. braking was strong and the handling was great.
Quality - The struts were worn out but I never replaced them. The engine ran very well.
Appearance - Gorgeous car, red with black leather, paint was in perfect condition.
Cost - gas mileage was average, around 19-21 mpg. Maintenance wasn't too much for me.

Hey, It's A Bimmer! —
It's an older one so it doesn't have all the hi tech do dads like the newer ones, but goes, stops, and turns and is engineered and built like the quality German automobile that it is.
Had to sell as it is bad in the snow and I need good snow manners to get to work in the winter.

Reviews From Other Years

Great Little Car But Can Get Pricey With OptionsBy jodyrobe

I love the front cabin, great handling, some power, nice looking exterior. I dislike that it appears to be catered to i-phone integration and not android. I will like more power. Should come with stan...
Read More

Good Little Sports Car And Good PowerBy jodyrobe

needs more power and backseat space, like the interior cabin, dislike no android integration appears to be for i-phone only. This pretty much sums it up but a great little car. If you get all the opti...
Read More

Best All Around Car Money Can Buy (maybe A Bit Too Much Money, Though)By dieselbos

After driving my 2010 Jetta Sportwagen for 50,000 miles, I test drove the new 328d that BMW was finally offering in North America. I was looking for an automatic for my daily commute (my Jetta was a ...
Read More

Great Car For The Wife To Get Tickets InBy Bhoffma1

I love the power delivery of the inline six cylinder. There is almost zero turbo lag and it feels like an NA car with a larger engine. I would prefer a manual transmission, but the eight speed autom...
Read More

Nice Second CarBy Drawbj17

This is my Wife's car. It is Perfect for her. The technology is not seamless. There are Too many steps to change from device to device And to move around through the options. The ride is a little stif...
Read More

A Fun And Young CarBy abhiga

This car is fun to drive! The handling and acceleration are amazing. The hardtop is a great feature, making the car usable all-year round. When the roof is closed, it's like driving a sports car. When...
Read More

Dreamdriver - Total Driving ImmersionBy turquoisea

I loved everything about this car, from the amazing interior with dazzling lights, phenomenal sound system, spot on handling and smooth ride, super comfortable seats, voice command. Not a lot of room...
Read More

It's The Honda Accord Of Our AgeBy Aaron

It's a perfectly reasonable car. Goes fast when you want it too, uses less gas when you want that. Back seat is big enough so the kids don't complain. Just wish it were a bit less bland. I used to...
Read More

Performance Oriented, Capable Daily DriverBy jff011377

Refined & very capable performance coupe. I have driven 12+ hours without getting fatigued. I have driven at autocross events & on a high speed road course track. The car is very fun to drive & in ...
Read More

An Amazing MachneBy fotobaron

Great power, great performance, great handling (hydraulic steering), very good gas mileage given the engine, extraordinarily comfortable, lots of useful bells and whistles and absolutely gorgeous to l...
Read More